Bringing Up Baby!
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Foolish Pride
Wow... So...shame on me. I should have asked a long time ago. Or maybe I did and twisted it up again. My darn backwards twisted wonky brain. My poor trainers and friends.
I am pretty sure it all started way back when I first got Fleck. And we couldn't get the right lead canter. Yep... We eventually figured it out but I'm pretty sure he was just smart enough to make up for my fumbling. Then when I started Dan and we had troubles with the right lead canter it was always "oh, he's just green and not as strong". But I swear... the last few rides I can just tell that he's so confused and wants to give me the right lead but isn't sure. I think I'm blocking him. And I think that I'm confusing the tar out of my brilliant baby boy. And then a few comments made by Cindy about my leg swinging back and asking for the change and then I started overanalyzing... which this time worked in my favor...
Basically point is... I finally broke down and asked a very humbling question to a friend. Luckily she was super sweet and totally helped my brain unscramble.
So... I don't know how I screwed it up in my head, but... I missed a vital part of the canter aid. The outside leg. And oh my gosh!! How could I have been so stupid. It explains so much. Poor brilliant baby horse.
So yeah... For my future reference, HOLLY READ THIS!!!! ;)
When asking a horse to canter, especially a baby/young/green horse, the aids are to sit square, get a slight inside bend, and swipe the outside leg back. Like a windshield wiper. (To complicate things a little, when the outside leg swings back, it should shift my inside leg down and long and lift my inside seat bone).
Yeah... Easy. So what was I doing? I had forgotten the outside leg part and was basically asking him with the inside leg. Which, sure, in theory, they should canter off the inside seat bone lift. But he's 5. And trained by me. And 5. And green. So... when I ask for right bend, he's confused. Does she want me to canter? Does she want bend? So yeah.. totally explains that annoying skippy thing he does when I ask for right bend. Yep... "Do you mean canter mom? nope... I think she doesn't". Sigh.. Poor poor kid.
So... now, poor guy must practice the right lead canter depart on my behalf. And I think that I'm a little twisted to the left so that the left lead canter is easier to get because I'm already slightly outside leg back that way. Plus I'm sure that's his stronger side, but whether or not I perpetuated it..
Regardless, hopefully now we can move forward. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!! Stop overthinking and mangling dressage. And Jumping too for that matter. JUST KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
Oh... and we had a lovely flat ride despite the canter confusions. We practiced our test for the show in two weeks. Then we went for a lovely long hack with Kelli. :) Good times!
I am pretty sure it all started way back when I first got Fleck. And we couldn't get the right lead canter. Yep... We eventually figured it out but I'm pretty sure he was just smart enough to make up for my fumbling. Then when I started Dan and we had troubles with the right lead canter it was always "oh, he's just green and not as strong". But I swear... the last few rides I can just tell that he's so confused and wants to give me the right lead but isn't sure. I think I'm blocking him. And I think that I'm confusing the tar out of my brilliant baby boy. And then a few comments made by Cindy about my leg swinging back and asking for the change and then I started overanalyzing... which this time worked in my favor...
Basically point is... I finally broke down and asked a very humbling question to a friend. Luckily she was super sweet and totally helped my brain unscramble.
So... I don't know how I screwed it up in my head, but... I missed a vital part of the canter aid. The outside leg. And oh my gosh!! How could I have been so stupid. It explains so much. Poor brilliant baby horse.
So yeah... For my future reference, HOLLY READ THIS!!!! ;)
When asking a horse to canter, especially a baby/young/green horse, the aids are to sit square, get a slight inside bend, and swipe the outside leg back. Like a windshield wiper. (To complicate things a little, when the outside leg swings back, it should shift my inside leg down and long and lift my inside seat bone).
Yeah... Easy. So what was I doing? I had forgotten the outside leg part and was basically asking him with the inside leg. Which, sure, in theory, they should canter off the inside seat bone lift. But he's 5. And trained by me. And 5. And green. So... when I ask for right bend, he's confused. Does she want me to canter? Does she want bend? So yeah.. totally explains that annoying skippy thing he does when I ask for right bend. Yep... "Do you mean canter mom? nope... I think she doesn't". Sigh.. Poor poor kid.
So... now, poor guy must practice the right lead canter depart on my behalf. And I think that I'm a little twisted to the left so that the left lead canter is easier to get because I'm already slightly outside leg back that way. Plus I'm sure that's his stronger side, but whether or not I perpetuated it..
Regardless, hopefully now we can move forward. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!! Stop overthinking and mangling dressage. And Jumping too for that matter. JUST KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
Oh... and we had a lovely flat ride despite the canter confusions. We practiced our test for the show in two weeks. Then we went for a lovely long hack with Kelli. :) Good times!
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Jumping the big sticks
Ahhhh.... I feel better now. We fixed it. Mostly. Although I swear... my poor horse. He's smarter than me. This week especially. That's two separate rides now that I can just feel his eyes rolling at me and him thinking "for the love of pete mom... get it together.. it's NOT THAT hard!!". hee hee...
We had a lesson with Kelly at Silverthorn. We started off and Dan felt awesome!! He was in front of my leg, energized, self propelled! It was awesome. I think he likes his haircut. :) (I clipped him yesterday and gave him his racing stripe). Or it was the spurs. Or he just felt great since I had finally had a chance to adjust him. Or a combination of all of the above. Whatever the reason, he felt awesome. Kelly said that she loved how forward he was and where his head and neck were. She said that he tends to get heavy and low and pull on me, but when he carries his head up a bit higher, he gets lighter in the front end and it frees up his shoulder. :)
We started jumping and Dan wouldn't trot the crossrail but whatever. He was jumping well so we decided to ignore it and make it a point when we did grids. But for now, we would let him canter and carry on. We did a small course of 2 and then 3 fences to start. Kelly told me to count and to just focus on keeping it simple. She said that my brain tends to over thing and panic and try to fix 800 things and I should just sit still and ride the canter. Mostly. But she wanted to clarify it. She said that most of us have a correct canter to the first fence, and then things start to fall apart. So... she told me to just think about how I want my canter for the first fence... jump the first fence and land. And then think.. is this the canter I want for my first fence... as I go to fence 2. :) But... seriously, ride each fence like it's the first fence. Get my canter together and balanced and forward but don't let him run, and keep it. I did pretty well with that until Kelly added a few more fences and increased the size.
Then we started to get a little flustered (well, I did... Danny was clearly rolling his eyes at my incompetence) and things started to fall apart. So... then Kelly told me to think of just two things... Balance him in the turn and then create impulsion out of the turn. So we tried that. It sort of worked but then when I increased impulsion I tended to let my arms go forward and Dan started to get a little rushy. So.. then we decided that my words were going to be "create" and "hold". Kelly told me to create that impulsion and forward but keep my hands in the same spot and not let them creep forward. This in effect created the power and impulsion without letting Dan get long or flat. It was awesome. He was jumping like a beast!! It was the ride I like... forward and game but not running at them. He was jumping awesomely too! Nice and bold and well. It was so much fun. And we jumped some big stuff too. He loved it.
Now.. to just remember... Create... Hold... Create Create Hold... Create Hold Hold... Hold hold hold... create hold create. :) Breathe and count and don't panic about the details. Although I do need to remember my landing gear. But I don't think Kelly had to say much about that. :) Yay!
We had a lesson with Kelly at Silverthorn. We started off and Dan felt awesome!! He was in front of my leg, energized, self propelled! It was awesome. I think he likes his haircut. :) (I clipped him yesterday and gave him his racing stripe). Or it was the spurs. Or he just felt great since I had finally had a chance to adjust him. Or a combination of all of the above. Whatever the reason, he felt awesome. Kelly said that she loved how forward he was and where his head and neck were. She said that he tends to get heavy and low and pull on me, but when he carries his head up a bit higher, he gets lighter in the front end and it frees up his shoulder. :)
We started jumping and Dan wouldn't trot the crossrail but whatever. He was jumping well so we decided to ignore it and make it a point when we did grids. But for now, we would let him canter and carry on. We did a small course of 2 and then 3 fences to start. Kelly told me to count and to just focus on keeping it simple. She said that my brain tends to over thing and panic and try to fix 800 things and I should just sit still and ride the canter. Mostly. But she wanted to clarify it. She said that most of us have a correct canter to the first fence, and then things start to fall apart. So... she told me to just think about how I want my canter for the first fence... jump the first fence and land. And then think.. is this the canter I want for my first fence... as I go to fence 2. :) But... seriously, ride each fence like it's the first fence. Get my canter together and balanced and forward but don't let him run, and keep it. I did pretty well with that until Kelly added a few more fences and increased the size.
Then we started to get a little flustered (well, I did... Danny was clearly rolling his eyes at my incompetence) and things started to fall apart. So... then Kelly told me to think of just two things... Balance him in the turn and then create impulsion out of the turn. So we tried that. It sort of worked but then when I increased impulsion I tended to let my arms go forward and Dan started to get a little rushy. So.. then we decided that my words were going to be "create" and "hold". Kelly told me to create that impulsion and forward but keep my hands in the same spot and not let them creep forward. This in effect created the power and impulsion without letting Dan get long or flat. It was awesome. He was jumping like a beast!! It was the ride I like... forward and game but not running at them. He was jumping awesomely too! Nice and bold and well. It was so much fun. And we jumped some big stuff too. He loved it.
Now.. to just remember... Create... Hold... Create Create Hold... Create Hold Hold... Hold hold hold... create hold create. :) Breathe and count and don't panic about the details. Although I do need to remember my landing gear. But I don't think Kelly had to say much about that. :) Yay!
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Danny the Menace
I swear... This kid...
I love him though
Making new friends
Cletus is such a good rooster.
Then there was the time Danny got the zoomies... again!
But you know... he was so good for his first clip today! I didn't even have to warm him up to it. I just went to clipping and kept clipping til I was done. Such a good kid!
Of course, afterwards... while I was tossing hay.. I came back to this. :) Doofus! Once I untangled him he took a drink from then played me a song with the wind chims. :)
I love him though
Making new friends
Then there was the time Danny got the zoomies... again!
But you know... he was so good for his first clip today! I didn't even have to warm him up to it. I just went to clipping and kept clipping til I was done. Such a good kid!
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Celebration Weekend
So... I'm back home from my acupuncture finals and have been busting my butt playing catch up, but.. I had the weekend off and I celebrated!
Saturday I had a lesson with Beth at Ashland. It was fun. We were dusty, but.. it was fun. We had a jump lesson and there was some miscommunication regarding dibs on the arenas, but it all worked out. We started off in the jump field over some stadium fences that were set up. There were two on a circle so we worked on that. Like I said, we were dusty.. rusty.. whatever. We kept losing that right shoulder so he was drifting and hanging his legs and jumping loose. So Beth had me put both hands to the left to help keep him from drifting right and to help secure that right shoulder. And then.. once I got it... Holy moly!! Baby horse has hops!! He was jumping super round and basculing well over the fences. He was popping me out of the tack almost! Yay! Of course then we switched to the right lead and... I couldn't get it together. We were a hot mess. He was behind my leg, throwing the right shoulder out still, falling/leaning on my right leg, and I couldn't stay with him. I kept getting us underneath the fence or taking off from 2 strides away. Sigh. We had a moment of fixing the canter first where I got angry and we ended up doing 10 meter canter circles to get him off my inside leg and in front of my leg. And then it got a little better.
Then we headed to the arena since it had emptied out at that point. It started out pretty okay but then he got a little tired and behind my leg again. Sigh. I was not helping him out at all. So then I got him a little more revved and we had a really nice round! It's not so much that he's running or fast... but he needs to be a bit more amped up. When he lopes around like a hunter school horse... he gets strung out and flat. But when I get him a little revved and really rock him back on his hiney and ride him into the bit, then he jumps beautifully! It wasn't as obvious that he was drifting but I was riding him in a more collected contact so therefore I kept him straighter. So yay. Lots of fun.
Then I untacked him and took him to the lake for a swim. I hopped back on and pulled my boots off (as I was tired of them getting soaked too) and we headed to meet Missy at the lake. I figured he was tired enough that I would be brave. So we went for a nice canter along the edge of the cross country field to the lake. Wheee!!! He was great. Then I went to take a selfie and... OOPS!! My helmet was off!!! Oh man. What a good baby horse! We walked back and I got my helmet and then Missy and I had a fun time chilling in the lake.
Wheeee!! Bareback canterin'
Oh.. yeah, so apparently Danny doesn't skinny dip. Sigh.. Despite going bareback and hoping he'd go for a swim (as opposed to getting dragged in with the saddle on) he didn't. He did however drop and roll! I had to jump off and as he rolled, his head went underwater. :)
So... on Sunday we went and picked up Liz and Forrest for a trip to Faussett Farms for a long trail ride. I was hoping that Sat would have tired him out, but nope. So after we got on, I had to do some "suicide Laps" up the hill a few times. Luckily Forrest was chill and just hung out while we burned off some excess energy. It was a great day after that. Danny was actually pretty good, probably because it was intense trail riding! Those hills are steep! I had forgotten how steep. Both up and down. The boys were great and were well matched. They could walk, trot, and canter happily together. The views were great and they had planted 300 acres of sunflowers so we got to ride by those. It was a fantastic day!
Sunflowers!!!
Then I untacked him and took him to the lake for a swim. I hopped back on and pulled my boots off (as I was tired of them getting soaked too) and we headed to meet Missy at the lake. I figured he was tired enough that I would be brave. So we went for a nice canter along the edge of the cross country field to the lake. Wheee!!! He was great. Then I went to take a selfie and... OOPS!! My helmet was off!!! Oh man. What a good baby horse! We walked back and I got my helmet and then Missy and I had a fun time chilling in the lake.
Wheeee!! Bareback canterin'
Oh.. yeah, so apparently Danny doesn't skinny dip. Sigh.. Despite going bareback and hoping he'd go for a swim (as opposed to getting dragged in with the saddle on) he didn't. He did however drop and roll! I had to jump off and as he rolled, his head went underwater. :)
So... on Sunday we went and picked up Liz and Forrest for a trip to Faussett Farms for a long trail ride. I was hoping that Sat would have tired him out, but nope. So after we got on, I had to do some "suicide Laps" up the hill a few times. Luckily Forrest was chill and just hung out while we burned off some excess energy. It was a great day after that. Danny was actually pretty good, probably because it was intense trail riding! Those hills are steep! I had forgotten how steep. Both up and down. The boys were great and were well matched. They could walk, trot, and canter happily together. The views were great and they had planted 300 acres of sunflowers so we got to ride by those. It was a fantastic day!
Sunflowers!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)